Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Hope you all are enjoying the winter season as much as I am! The sun is still pretty strong out here in Jaipur, though it gets a bit chilly during the night. The hypothermic me, as usual, has at least one extra layer of woollens than the rest of the city! Nevertheless, winters is still my favorite season!

Here are 10 things that I love the most about winters!

1. Snuggling in my cozy mink blanket! No, that's not my mink blanket in the picture below. That photograph was taken at a school friend's place in Delhi... and that's his Jaipuri-rajai wrapped around me!

2. Soaking up the afternoon sun in my balcony... reading an interesting book or just ragging Abhiroop on phone for hours!

3. Exhaling against glass surfaces to draw cartoons on the fog that settles on them!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Life doesn't seem so serious when you're with friends, does it? They have a way of making the heaviest burdens and responsibilities seem weightless. They form the silver lining around the dark clouds of gloom & despair. They give you a reason to smile again, even if just for a moment. Especially your best friends.

With your best friends, you don't need to be strong all the time... you can be exactly how you're feeling at that moment... joyful, crazy, naughty, sad, scared, ashamed, worthless, hyperactive, cranky... whatever you're feeling. And they'll listen to all your angry rants and "senti" outbursts with an equally blank expression on their face... and when you're finished, they'll ask "what have you been drinking?"

And if you say something nasty to your best friends and hurt them, it doesn't take a lot to apologize and make up, 'coz your best friends already know you're the biggest idiot in the whole world, and they still love you the same. In fact, they probably love you BECAUSE you're such an idiot!

They don't let you give up. They'll argue with you, scold you, even bully you if necessary! In fact, sometimes they can be so relentless, and just go on and on and on, that you'll do whatever it is you're supposed to do, just to get the irritating souls off your back!

And when you fall, they may not pick you up, or even help you get up, but they'll laugh so hard at your clumsiness that you'll want to get up anyway, just so you could punch them in their face for laughing at you!

But yes... you cannot save your gorgeously huge piece of chocolate cake for the end of the meal, if your best friends are around!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Disclaimer: The following post is written purely in the context of India - my country.

In the mid 30s of my life, I've had the opportunity to give some serious thought to marriage and everything else associated with it. And I have come to certain realizations.

I have realized that a "love marriage" does not necessarily translate to more stability and understanding than an "arranged marriage". At times, "couples-in-love" spend more time just partying and making-out, than they spend in building up genuine "understanding" with each other. At times, "couples-in-love" don't bother taking off those "rose-colored glasses" for years, so that when reality finally hits them after marriage, they find it hard to keep pace with it.

I have realized that not having similar interests in life doesn't matter as much in marriage as not having similar values. It's not something you consciously think of, I guess. You automatically tend to gravitate towards people with similar values, even if you haven't specifically discussed them with each other. Which is good, isn't it? Just imagine the kind of friction between a person with strong moral values and another one who'd sell his conscience for money!

Speaking of money, I have realized that even modern, well-educated Indian men, who may be totally against dowry in the form of car or gold or cash etc., may still want the bride's family to spend lakhs of money in a lavish, but entirely useless, wedding reception for their hundreds of 'baraatis'! And I have realized that for some such modern, well-educated Indian men, a working wife is the new form of "dowry".

Then I have realized something about the inherent friction between a mother-in-law & daughter-in-law. Some MILs are not ready to change their ways with time. For example, even in today's hectic lifestyles, they may still want their DILs to use 'chakki-waala-aata' instead of 'packet-waala-aata', even with a working DIL! They may adamantly refuse to eat dishes cooked by their DIL in a style different from their own. Small things really, but they add up to create some really hostile environments. Then there are some DILs, especially those who've been living on their own for a long time... they find it very difficult to make space in their lives for their in-laws.

But for some couples, marriage is like a "social license" to spend day-in and day-out with their best friend, who is not of the same sex. Seriously! If you spend some time with these couples, you can actually make out that their relationship is not like the stereotype Indian 'pati-parmeshwar' and 'charnon-ki-dasi'! They don't behave like the typical Indian formal-and-polite husband & wife. They tease each other mercilessly, wife calls the hubby by his name (and some really weird nicknames too at times!), hubby even makes tea if his wife's girlfriend drops by for a visit! And they play Uno or Scrabble or even just Carrom on the weekends and whenever else they get time! They seem to talk in a secret language sometimes, and they have private jokes that only they can understand. They are completely informal with each other... and even with their in-laws! In short, it's a real treat to be in the company of such couples!

Lastly, (and quite disturbingly, I might add!) I have realized that some people (mostly girls) marry for the financial security, some (usually the guys) marry for clean clothes and hot meals, some get married for sex, and some marry just to fulfill their parents' wishes and the so-called "obligations towards society". Very few people actually marry for love... for the fact that they really want to grow up together with a person they are fond of!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

There are people who seem to remain at peace with the Universe, no matter what the Universe throws at them. They are quick to smile at the slightest reason, laugh openly and whole-heartedly, and usually manage to say/do something nice to/for you.

And there are people who naturally jump to the assumption that the people in the category mentioned above have everything. "If you aren't complaining about your life, then it must be perfect!"

Then there are people who just don't know how to be happy. They can never appreciate the beautiful gifts the Universe has given them, and they keep blaming everything/everyone around them for their unhappiness.

Then again, there are people who pretend their life is a fantastic roller-coaster ride... while in reality their relationships might be stretched to the point of breaking, their finances may be hitting the very rock bottoms, and the combined effect of the two taking a serious toll on their health!

There are people who start acting really weird if they perceive that you have what they lack. In fact, interactions with them leave you feeling guilty for having whatever they don't have! (I know... that's why I said "weird"!) And if you happen to be in the first category, you might also be left wondering what hit you!

And finally, there are people who believe that nobody's life is perfect, that nobody has everything, and that everybody is just putting on masks for the world most of the time.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Roshmi and Abhiroop tied for the first place, with just one incorrect answer each. In fact, both of them got the same answer wrong... the "trick question" regarding me being a morning person!

So anyway, I said I'd do a lucky draw in case of a tie. So that's what I did. Five chits with Roshmi's name, and five with OB's. (It was no fun with just 2 chits in the box!) Shook them up, and then pulled one chit out.

Yeah man! You have some luck! After a long month of mental harassment, and all your attempts at flattery, cheating, gallantry and a dozen other tactics that I'm unable to describe in words... not to forget that post you were supposed to send, but didn't because you slept the day off... you STILL managed to win this giveaway!

Yes, yes... go on... do your "victory dance"! Maybe I'll switch my phone off for a few days, to give you time to cool down! But once you've got your head back on, please email me your postal address, so that I can send you the painting!

Shilpa and Roshmi... I love you both for participating in my 600th blog post celebrations. And to show my appreciation, I will send something to you both as well. But, not right away. I only just got this idea last night... so I'll need some time to gather the supplies and make your gifts. A couple of weeks probably? :D

Double Trouble:
i) Two Facebook games I’ve been crazy about enough to mention on this blog?FarmVille, Who has the biggest Brain (Everyone got this right!)
ii) Two posters that have adorned my bedroom at any point of time?Aamir Khan, The Kiss (This too!)
iii) Two singers I’ve ever mentioned on this blog? (Could be Indian or non-Indian)Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Ricky Martin, Asha Bhonsle (Pick your two)
iv) Two fictional characters I’ve had a crush on?Jacob Black, Remington Steele (Edward - I finally relented that he was also "okay", but never had a crush on him!)
v) Two of my favorite drinks?H2O, Tea, Hot Coffee, Ginger-ale Fuzz, Lemonade, Kesar Pista Milk Shake (Easy!)

Which of the following are true about me?
i) I hate ‘Holi’. True
ii) I am a morning person. False (I was, once upon a time... sighhhh!)
iii) I cannot eat breakfast. False
iv) My favorite color is yellow. False (On a permanent basis, it's blue. I have periodic attraction towards pink and yellow also. Yellow is my favorite color of flowers though.)
v) I love shopping. False

Rapid Fire:
i) Cats or Dogs? Dogs
ii) Action or Romance? Action
iii) Desktops or Laptops? Desktops
iv) French or Spanish? Spanish
v) Sunflower or Rose? Sunflower(Everyone got this set right. And OB, you see now, there was no question out of syllabus! :D)

As you'll see, there were a few trick questions. For example, that "morning person" question - only Shilpa got it right! :D So anyway, the comments having the answers of the participants have already been posted on the Quiz post. You guys can tally your answers now with this set. I will soon declare the winner in another post today.

It's a board-laminated wall-art... water painting on art paper. I made this scene originally in hand embroidery ("Still Water: Embroidery"), but then I fell in love with it and wanted to see it in bigger size... as a painting. Here are the details of this wall-art - "Solitude: Water Painting".

Yeah, I changed the name from "Still Water" to "Solitude", because... well, if you think about it, that girl could very easily be me, thinking about the next blog post on miss_teerious maybe...?? So "Solitude" seems more apt as a title, doesn't it?

Anyway, I've received 3 entries in the giveaway contest so far. None of them are 100% correct though. So I've decided I'll give the prize to whoever gets the maximum correct answers. And even though the "About" page and the search box on the top make it easy to find the answers, I have included a couple of trick questions in the quiz, which won't be so easy to find directly! :D

Well then, 2 more days to go. If you'd like to have this handmade wall-art from me... as something to remember me by, you know... then hurry up and send me your answers! Just about 48 hours left to participate!

The Tattooed Fakir, by Biman Nath, set in 18th century colonial India, attempts to narrate the story of the rebellion against the British rule, by armed Muslim fakirs and Hindu sanyasis of India. I say "attempts to", because the book fails to convince.

Blurb from The Tattooed Fakir:

A young woman – Roshanara – is kidnapped by the village zamindar. The British sahib, owner of the indigo plantation, intervenes, but then takes her as his own mistress. She is not, however, any local woman – she is a fakir’s daughter.

Her fakir father and her husband Asif go to Majnu Shah’s band of fakirs to plead for help in getting her back.

The plot:

In Northern Bengal, during the eighteenth century colonial rule of India, while the villagers are struggling under the atrocities and over-taxation of local zamindars, several Indigo plantations have come up in the countryside. The owner of one such Indigo plantation in Jahangirpur is 'Makhlin sahib' (Ronald MacLean), who is assisted in the plantation work by his French manager, Pierre Gaubert. Pierre and his sister, Anne, had to flee Pondicherry because of the scandal caused by Anne's affair with a local Muslim boy, Yusuf. They are now keeping a low profile in Jahangirpur.

Asif, a young peasant, is married to Roshanara, the daughter of a renowned local fakir, Cherag Ali. The story begins when the local zamindar sets forth his plans to kidnap Roshanara for his lust, but fate takes the woman to Makhlin sahib's house, instead of the zamindar's. Asif and Cherag fakir plan to seek the help of a much-hyped warrior fakir, Majnu Shah, to rescue Roshanara.

The characters:

I have already given a brief outline of all the main characters in the book, except for the protagonist - 'The Tattooed Fakir'. This character is the mixed-race son of Roshanara and Makhlin sahib. An unwanted kid, emotionally insecure, full of rage and confusion. He apparently learns to vent his anger through his arrows, and becomes the prized archer of the band of warrior fakirs, but is not very convincing in the role.

As a matter of fact, all the characters in the book are under-developed and confused. Not a single strong character in the entire plot. So much hype about Cherag Ali and Majnu Shah, but neither of them are shown actually doing anything. Same goes for Asif and Roshanara. Pierre, Anne and MacLean are also portrayed with contrasting characters. It is quite impossible to relate with anybody in the plot. The rebellious skirmishes of the fakirs don't come across as very convincing. And in all of this chaos, the author has also thrown in Tipu Sultan and his innovative 'rocket technology'. (I wouldn't be able to comment on the historic validation of this aspect of the plot, because I'm no historian.)

In short, The Tattooed Fakir promises a lot of action, but consistently fails to deliver it. Roshanara's rescue mission was a complete fiasco, despite the fact that it took almost 7 years to happen! The storyline is shabby, illogical, and as confused as the characters. And the climax is most unimpressive. When I finished reading the book, I couldn't help wonder why it was written at all. Total "damp squib".

My rating: 1.5 out of 5. The Tattooed Fakir, by Biman Nath, was a complete waste of time. The author had a brilliant idea in the making, excellent writing style, and yet, failed to leave his mark.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

How many of you remember Paan Pasand - the betel leaf flavored sugar boiled candy that tasted distinctly like our Indian 'paan'? Honestly, no imported confectioneries/chocolates can ever beat those unique candies! Just thinking about them makes my mouth water... even after all these years!

And do you remember their TV Ads? Some of them were seriously rib-tickling! Two super classics that I still remember were the 'shadi aur tumse' one, and that 'apni biwi par hukum chalate ho' one! I found 4 sets of their Ads on YouTube... sharing them with you all... these are real treasures from the days gone by!

The entry with all correct answers wins the giveaway. In case of a tie, I'll do a "lucky draw".

Winner will be announced on 1st September, 2012.

PRIZE:

The winner will receive a special handmade gift from KraftyFingers.
And what will that gift be? :D
Come now, don't be so impatient! :P
Just stay tuned to this blog and you'll find out soon enough! ;-)
(A little suspense is good, don't you think?)

So here's the quiz now...

QUIZ:

Double Trouble:
i) Two Facebook games I’ve been crazy about enough to mention on this blog?
ii) Two posters that have adorned my bedroom at any point of time?
iii) Two singers I’ve ever mentioned on this blog? (Could be Indian or non-Indian)
iv) Two fictional characters I’ve had a crush on?
v) Two of my favorite drinks?

Which of the following are true about me?
i) I hate ‘Holi’.
ii) I am a morning person.
iii) I cannot eat breakfast.
iv) My favorite color is yellow.
v) I love shopping.

People usually change for two reasons, either they've learnt a lot, or they've been hurt a lot.

And then there are some who've done both. And they change so drastically that it's quite difficult to relate them with their former self!

Original photograph by http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapollack/

So what exactly changes when we say we have changed or such-and-such-person has changed? Is it the way we think? The way we feel? What?

One of my close friends started this discussion on chat recently. I think, more than our thoughts and feelings, it's our responses that actually change. The way we react/ respond to our experiences.

Some of us become tougher. We either learn to close our energy fields in stressful situations, or we develop an emotional shield to keep those sharp arrows off us. That's probably a good thing, except that, if overdone, it can make us quite unapproachable. It is important to show our softer sides too once in a while, at least to the people who really care for us.

Some become more self dependent. We just stop involving other people in our plans. We learn to work completely solo and rely on nobody except our self. Again, that's usually a good thing to some degree, but on the extreme, it can turn us into individual islands, cut off from everything around us. Being able to ask for help is as important as being able to look after oneself.

Some people become cynical. When we've been hurt too many times, we simply stop trusting. I'm not really sure if that's good or bad in today's times. Human nature has deteriorated over the last decade. People have become more selfish, materialistic & insensitive to others. It would be quite foolish to be trusting of everyone today. But blanket cynicism? Surely that would do more harm than good, in the long run, won't it? Well I'm not really sure in today's times.

Then there are some people who become bitter. I can offer no tips in dealing with such people. They over-react to the slightest provocation. You never know what they'll bite your head off for! They're just too over-sensitive, especially around people who "seem" content with life, or those who "seem" to have what they lack. Due to their distorted perspectives, they fail to see that those "seemingly content" people also have problems in life; it's just that they have chosen to smile despite them.

And some people actually become more compassionate. They realize that there is a lot of hurt & suffering in this world. They learn that practically everybody on this planet is dealing with some kind of problem or the other -- be it health or financial or anything else. They learn to see the struggle and pain behind all the smiling faces. And they become compassionate. They're able to forgive even those who've been bitter & unkind to them at any point of time.

Naturally, some people also become a combination of the above, although compassion is a rare quality. Very few people are able to go beyond the boundaries of "I, me and myself" and see others... actually "see" them, you know, and not merely register their physical presence with their visual faculties. Anyway, these are all natural phases of change, I suppose. I'm sure most of us go through them some time or the other in life.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The other day, when I was searching for a simple & good recipe for "Homemade Sweet lassi", I found a recipe for making banana ice cream at home, using just one ingredient - bananas! The recipe looked easy enough, so I thought I'd give it a try. I made it yesterday for dinner dessert. Honestly speaking, it didn't really look like ice cream to me, but you can see for yourself. This is the recipe for the homemade banana ice cream...

For the Homemade Banana Ice cream:

INGREDIENTS:
3 over-ripe bananas

METHOD:

Cut the bananas into pieces and put them in the freezer for 1 and 1/2 hours. I forgot to take them out in time, so they had to spend like 3 hours in the freezer!

Remove from freezer and blend in a food processor till they become smooth & creamy. Mine apparently got too frozen or something, because they adamantly remained solid pieces in the food processor. So I had to add a few spoonfuls of milk into it.

Re-freeze the creamy custard-like stuff for a couple of hours. Then blend it again in the food processor. Because of that extra 1 & 1/2 half hours wasted in the first round of freezing, I didn't have enough time left before dinner. So I could give it only half an hour at this stage.

Serve your homemade banana ice cream in bowls and garnish as you wish. I've used a bourbon biscuit for the garnishing... I just crumbled the chocolate filling on the top and stuck the two biscuit layers along the side of the bowl!

Dad reckons it didn't turn out like proper ice cream because I added milk to the bananas and then I didn't let it freeze for full 2 hours the second time around. He suggests I should try it again, but I think I'll pass on this one. It was just too banana-ish for me, if you know what I mean! And it reminded me of the mashed bananas we feed little babies! (Yucks!) I think I'll just stick to plain old custard-jelly next time! But if any of you try out this recipe for homemade banana ice cream, do let me know how it went for you.

Monday, July 23, 2012

I've recently started making ghee at home, from malai - the layer of cream that settles over boiled milk. I keep collecting malai through the week in a bowl (just store it in the refrigerator) and then make ghee from it every 7th day. Sharing the process here...

For Making Homemade Ghee From Malai (Milk Cream):

INGREDIENTS:Malai collected over a week or 10 days

METHOD:

Put all the malai in a big vessel and blend with a hand-mixer till it solidifies into butter and separates from the residual liquid. The quantity in the image below took me about 2 minutes of blending.

Wash this white butter in cold water a couple of times, so as to remove any remaining smell of milk. What you have now is what our 'Bal Gopal' was famous for stealing from the neighbors! :D

Collect all the butter in a heavy bottom dish & put it to heat on low flame, stirring in between, so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the dish.

In just about a minute or so, it starts separating into ghee and white solid particles (that look like crumbled cottage cheese). You can add a pinch of rock salt now - it helps settle the solids at the bottom. This is how it looked like after 2 minutes of cooking...

After about one more minute, the white solids had settled down at the bottom. You can see the ghee floating on the top in the following picture.

Leave it on the gas for just about 1 more minute, till the white solids become golden brown in color and the ghee also turns golden yellow. If it becomes brown (like mine, in the picture below), it means that it's been over-cooked. Yeah well, I got a phone call at the wrong time and this is what happened!

Give it a few minutes to cool down slightly, and then you can strain it through a stainless-steel strainer into a glass/steel container. Last time I made it, I completely forgot that it would be really hot, and I poured it directly into a plastic jug! Luckily, it was heavy plastic, so the jug didn't melt altogether, but it warped and became horribly distorted! :(

After straining, if you see any powdery residue at the bottom of your container (like in the picture above), then just strain the ghee once more through an old, clean handkerchief.

That's it! Your fresh homemade ghee from malai is ready... at a fraction of the price in the market. I get about 400 grams ghee from the malai of 7 liters milk. And all these years, I'd been giving away this malai to the maids at home! And even then, their attitudes did not improve! Huhhhh!

Anyway, the first two times I did this here, I didn't make butter from the malai first. I did blend it with the hand-mixer, but not for long enough. As a result, the 'cooking' process took a really long time... more than an hour, in fact. And it left behind a large amount of sticky brownish residue. Today, I did a little more research on this & finally did it the proper way. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the entire process takes less than 10 minutes and leaves behind just about 1 tablespoon of solid residue! Also, I've been told that the liquid separated from the butter can be used to make kadhi. So I'm going to try that tomorrow, see how it turns out. UPDATE:

As I've already mentioned above, I overcooked the above lot, so it turned brown. Here's a picture of the finished ghee from another batch that I prepared recently. The ideal golden yellow colored liquid ghee solidifies into this off-white shade on cooling.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

As most of you already know by now, I gave my blog a complete make-over in May end this year. Did away with the old blogger lighthouse template, moved the sidebar to the right, and came back online with a brand new header and menu bar!

Then for several days after that, I went into minor depression! Shed some tears initially, howled for a while too, but Dad seemed to find that too amusing. So I finally just settled for "wandering about the house like a zombie"... because my blog no longer felt like "home"!

Eventually, I decided to play a bit with the CSS - added my "signature" touch (colors and images) to some of the blog elements, and made this space warm & cozy again.

I quite like this new look now. It is as uncluttered as before, but much faster. Maybe left-sidebar blogs take longer to load than the right-sidebar ones... I'm not sure. Anyway, having the sidebar on the right does feel more natural, being a right-handed person and having the mouse on the right of the keyboard.

The menu bar also seems more organized now, giving an easier access to my blog content. When you're close to 600 posts, it becomes an important design consideration to give maximum possible visibility to the best of your archived content, along with your new content. That's why I've added the new pages for About, Potpourri & Twitter etc. Do check them out.

Some minor changes to the post header and footer as well, and the author comment highlights are styled differently now. More recently, I've added the live stream from my craft blog (KraftyFingers) to the sidebar here.

Oh by the way, that old pumpkin lighthouse is still here... it's just been moved to the bottom of the blog now!

Well you didn't actually think I was going to get rid of that, did you?

Have you ever had one of those days when it's so hot that you don't even feel like eating? I remember when I went to Agra/ Mathura/ Fatehpur Sikri with my old flatmate. It was in the middle of May, the sun high over our heads. One of those days that I just described above. During that trip, every time our bus stopped for a meal break, we just had tall glasses full of chilled sweet lassi, rather than any of those typical Indian fast foods that would've surely given us an upset tummy in that weather!

Today, I made that sweet yoghurt lassi for the very first time in my life. It is soooo easy that I'm quite surprised I never tried making it earlier! Sharing the recipe here, not for my readers -- I'm pretty sure they already know how to make it -- but for me, in case I forget it till next summers!

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As mysterious as this world around me.
Witty. Humorous. Thought provoking.
Sometimes sweet, but mostly spicy.
Here's my complete profile.
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